"They asked a wise man: - Among the many famous trees that the Most High God created to be strong and sprawling, not a single one is called azad, that is, free, only the cypress, which does not bear fruit. What secret is hidden in this? - And the sage answered as follows: - Each tree has its own fruit and its appointed season, in which it grows green and blooms, but in other seasons it withers and dries up. The cypress, however, is not subject to this alternation, because it is equally fresh green in every season; and this is the nature of the azad, a person who is free in religion.
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Author
Henry David ThoreauAll Translations
All Translations
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They asked a wise man: - Among the many famous trees that the Most High God created to be strong and sprawling, not a single one is called azad, that is, free, only the cypress, which does not bear fruit. What secret is hidden in this? - And the sage answered as follows: - Each tree has its own fruit and its appointed season, in which it grows green and blooms, but in other seasons it withers and dries up. The cypress, however, is not subject to this alternation, because it is equally fresh green in every season; and this is the nature of the azad, a person who is free in religion.
""Megkérdezték egy bölcstől: - A sok híres fa közül, amelyet a Magasságos Isten sudárnak s terebélyesnek teremtett, egyetlenegyet sem neveznek azadnak, vagyis szabadnak, csupán a ciprust, mely gyümölcsöt nem terem. Milyen titok van ebben elrejtve? - És a bölcs ekképpen válaszolt: - Mindegyik fának megvan a maga termése és a maga kijelölt évszaka, amelyben zöldell és virágzik, más évszakban ellenben hervad és kiszárad. A ciprus azonban nincsen alávetve e váltakozásnak, mert minden évszakban egyforma üde zöld; s ilyen természetű az azad, a vallásban szabad ember is."